Hi, I a Omnifocus new user. After testing and trying many GTD apps, I decided to buy OF and I am blown away on how good it is.

I am also new at GTD and I am setting up my system. I am using iCal but I am wondering if it is something better out there.

Same thing with notes gathering software. I am checking out Evernote but I rather use something that stores stuff locally. Actually, I do not know if Evernote does store data locally. Does it?

I am also looking at Soho Notes and Omnioutliner. Not sure if OO is really is the same thing as Evernote.

Need some suggestions. Thanks.

policarpo

2010-11-26 09:17 AM

Welcome to the club ;^)

What's your current setup? Are you planning on using the iOS version of omnifocus?

I've used pretty much all the note taking apps out there, and have recently decided to stick with the native Notes app in mail since I can now sync them with my iPhone and iPad.

It just depends on your needs. Notational Velocity is pretty nice as well.

davidmedina

2010-11-26 11:33 AM

I am thrilled to be part of th OF community. So far, I have all three OF apps.

What I am looking to do is to be able to collect and organize things I read and see in the web, from books I read and photo/video I take. Not using anything right now but checking out evernote, omnioutliner and Soho Notes.

policarpo

2010-11-26 01:29 PM

Evernote is perfect for this but it's all in the cloud but works perfectly for this. You will have access to your references on all your devices.

jcooper

2010-11-26 07:01 PM

For work we have Exchange and I have Entourage to sync with iCal. We also so use BaseCamp that outputs iCal feeds. And for personal stuff I use Google Calendar (as does the rest of the family). So to bring it all together in one place I use BusyCal ( [url]http://www.busymac.com/[/url]).

This works great with all the above. I do all my entries in BusyCal just selecting the calendar i'm working with and everything shows up for others where it should. It also allows you do to some other cool stuff. For example I can take a Basecamp Project calendar and republish it to google cal. It works great with Omnifocus. It also allows me to see a very complete picture of my work and personal life to avoid over booking myself.

For notes I use DevonThinkPro office. I started using this app when it was still in Beta and still use it everyday today. The ability to copy a link to a project file and past it in Omnifocus makes it super fast to link to items. I store a lot of data in DevonThink. I have several databases setup mainly one for work and one for personal.

davidmedina

2010-11-28 03:05 PM

Thank so much for all your responses. I think I settle for Evernote for the moment. I will check Devonthink too.

crsawood

2010-11-29 01:19 AM

If you use the local app for Evernote, it does store everything locally as well as in the cloud. That way you get the best of both worlds, as it is accessible anywhere.

endoftheQ

2010-11-29 04:55 AM

Hi David,

I'm currently trying to get to grips with [URL="http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonthink/"]DEVONthink[/URL], which I got free bundled with a [URL="http://www.fujitsu.com/emea/products/scansnap/"]Fujitsu ScanSnap[/URL] (great for getting rid of years of paperwork!). Although I like the desktop version, I have to confess that I'm really disappointed with the associated [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/devonthink-to-go/id395722470?mt=8"]DEVONthink To Go[/URL] App (for iDevices), so IMHO, I'd recommend waiting to see if the App is brought up to spec. before making the investment.

I've given [URL="http://www.evernote.com/"]Evernote[/URL] a fair crack-of-the-whip, but it doesn't really tick any of my boxes and I have to confess to cloud subscription fatigue, what with [URL="http://www.apple.com/mobileme/"]MobileMe[/URL], [URL="http://www.dropbox.com/"]Dropbox[/URL], etc. etc.

I should admit that, unlike you, I don't want to store locally, I want to be able to access large quantities of data pulled on demand. I'm using [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/filemaker-go/id379686220?mt=8"]FileMaker Go[/URL] for work GTD and it's been a revelation to be able to access our own server, which holds hundreds of gigs of data, whilst on the move.

At the moment, I'm a big fan of Underscore's [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/underscore-notify/id380866331?mt=8"]Notify[/URL] App for iDevices. I found this by accident (it was a Genius recommendation) and was seriously impressed. I like creating 'scrapbooks' for notes, which can incorporate anything from audio, pictures, an Excel spreadsheet, etc. as well as text. Notify has a couple of unique features, such as being able to record a meeting while you type notes (and have each note linked to the timeline of the audio) and you can browse the web in Safari (or [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/atomic-web-browser-browse/id347929410?mt=8"]Atomic[/URL] and [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/icab-mobile-web-browser/id308111628?mt=8"]iCab[/URL]) and clip all or part of the webpage to a notebook whilst maintaining a link to the source. Notify also supports Send to OmniFocus (maintaining a link in the Notes field of an Action to the associated notebook), plus [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/textexpander/id326180690?mt=8"]TextExpander[/URL] and [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/writepad/id293033512?mt=8"]WritePad[/URL].

A few negatives! You need to watch the video tutorials, as it doesn't always follow conventions (ie. to scroll and pan, you use a two-fingered swipe), and some features (such as the customised keyboard) aren't immediately obvious how to set up. The handwriting recognition is powered by WritePad but requires an in-App purchase even if you already own the full WritePad App (I've had a rant (!) about this on [URL="http://www.technologyatplay.com/forums/showthread.php?11102-WritePad-and-Underscore-Notify"]Phatware's forum[/URL], as this is their restriction). Also, the syncing isn't true syncing, what it does is keep an up-to-date PDF of a notebook in Evernote, Dropbox, etc.

However, Notify's developer is really responsive (I requested Send to OmniFocus, which was incorporated in the next release!) and there is a [URL="http://www.underscore.se/underscore/index.php?bottom=forum"]Community Forum[/URL] where you can post feature requests. It's a universal App and only costs a quid (couple of bucks), so even if you decide to give it a go and don't like it, hopefully it won't break the bank!

Hope the above is of some interest. :)

Pascal_S

2010-11-30 02:24 AM

[QUOTE=davidmedina;89461]
Same thing with notes gathering software. I am checking out Evernote but I rather use something that stores stuff locally. Actually, I do not know if Evernote does store data locally. Does it?
[/QUOTE]

I also tried Evernote, but what not fully satisfied (no off-line mode for iPhone, pricey, etc...).

If text notes are enough for you (i.e. no images or sound), then I would rather recommend to use the SimpleNote hub ([url]http://simplenoteapp.com[/url]) and the various client applications such as Notational Velocity on Mac.

Sticking to text mode notes forced me to keep things simple. It also guarantees that I will still be able to use my notes in 10 years, which is not the case with Evernote.